Groundbreakings set for temples in Ephraim, Utah, Lubumbashi Democratic Republic of the Congo

Groundbreaking plans are scheduled for the Ephraim Utah and Lubumbashi Democratic Republic of the Congo Temples, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints introduced Tuesday.

Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, a Basic Authority Seventy and counselor within the church’s Utah Space presidency, will preside on the groundbreaking ceremony for the Ephraim Utah Temple on Saturday, Aug. 27.

Elder Matthew L. Carpenter, a Basic Authority Seventy and president of the church’s Africa Central Space, will preside on the groundbreaking ceremony for the Lubumbashi Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple on Saturday, Aug. 20.

A temple website and exterior rendering for the Lubumbashi temple have been additionally launched Tuesday.

Attendance at each occasions might be by invitation solely.

Ephraim Utah Temple

• The Ephraim Utah Temple was introduced by President Russell M. Nelson on Might 1, 2021.
• The temple’s location was launched on Oct. 22, 2021.
• An exterior rendering was launched on March 4, 2022.
• The three-story temple of roughly 39,000 sq. ft might be constructed on a 9.16-acre website positioned on the intersection of 200 North and 400 East in Ephraim, Utah. The temple website is positioned northeast of Snow School and fewer than eight miles from the Manti Utah Temple.

• The Ephraim temple will serve greater than 31,000 Latter-day Saints within the central Utah space.
• There are greater than 2.1 million Latter-day Saints attending over 5,300 congregations, in keeping with the church’s newsroom.
• Utah has 28 temples which are working, underneath renovation, underneath development or within the planning part.

Lubumbashi Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple

• The Lubumbashi temple would be the second temple within the central African nation, becoming a member of the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple which was devoted in 2019.
• Earlier than the Kinshasa temple was devoted, the closest temple was in Johannesburg, South Africa. However touring to Kinshasa remains to be a troublesome journey of greater than 1,000 miles from Lubumbashi, a mining city of just about 1.8 million individuals.

• The Lubumbashi temple might be 19,300 sq. ft in measurement and might be constructed on 2.57 acres. It is going to embrace two endowment rooms of 30 seats every. Ancillary buildings of 31,000 sq. ft might be constructed on the positioning, which will embrace a distribution middle and patron and missionary housing.
• There are almost 90,000 Latter-day Saints attending 250 congregations within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in keeping with the church’s newsroom.